Firms Eyeing Test-Prep Aid for Students

Companies that specialize in coaching students to take the SAT are
casting an eye toward preparing students for high-stakes state
assessments.

With all the state and national emphasis on student accountability
and related new tests, companies such as Kaplan Educational Centers and
the Princeton Review are expanding their presence in the K-12
market.

Kaplan is now writing customized diagnostic tests that schools or
districts could use to pinpoint students' skill levels well before they
sit for a state's standardized exam.

And just as the large majority of New York state students will soon
have to pass the regents' exams to receive a high school diploma,
guidebooks for the tests by both Kaplan and the Princeton Review
shortly will be hitting bookstores across the state. Officials from
both New York City-based companies say they are waiting to see where
demand for the guidebooks proves strongest. Then they will decide where
to publish guides among the growing number of states requiring students
to pass assessments before they can graduate or move on to the next
grade.

Similar to its SAT-preparation books, Kaplan's guides to the New
York regents' exams, for example, will include sample questions from
past exams as well as study tips and test-taking strategies. While the
guidebooks will be targeted chiefly at parents and students, the
diagnostic tests will be directed toward schools.

The companies' move into state-assessment territory is no surprise
to anyone familiar with the current SAT market, said Robert Schaeffer,
the public education director at the National Center for Fair &
Open Testing, or FairTest, a Cambridge, Mass.-based watchdog group that
is critical of most standardized testing.

"The SAT market in the past several years has been stagnant," Mr.
Schaeffer said. "If you want to sell more products, you have to look at
other pies."

The proportion of students taking the SAT has risen slightly in the
past several years; nearly 4 percent more students took the exam this
year than in 1996, according to the College Board.

Concerns About Equity

But the introduction of new lines of K-12 materials raises some of
the same concerns that SAT critics have long complained about--namely,
that students whose families can afford to spring for a host of
test-coaching products and services have a leg up on the
college-entrance exam. If the use of commercial test-preparation
materials for states' standardized tests gains popularity, schools
could face similar worries about equity.

Kaplan and the Princeton Review charge about $700 for their SAT
classes; their test books and software, however, are far less
expensive--ranging in price from $11 to $50.

"At the higher education level, it's the middle-class kids and above
that can advance themselves through these companies," George Madaus, a
professor of education and public policy at Boston College, points out.
"So there's an equity issue. And that interacts with the scores across
the state."

But Joe Scherer, the executive director of K-12 partnerships at
Kaplan, says that low-achieving districts could benefit from using his
company's new diagnostic tests. At roughly $30 per exam, the new Kaplan
tests, which are geared to individual state assessments, are intended
to be an affordable way to help schools identify skills that need
improvement, not to teach students the tricks of the tests, he said.
("NASSP To Promote Company's Practice
SAT Tests," Nov. 19, 1997.)

"Florida has more than 60 schools that have been identified as
nonperforming," Mr. Scherer said. "I'm sure there's an emphasis in
those environments to determine what remedies could address the
deficiencies."

Florida students in grades 4, 5, 8, and 10 will take their state's
assessment tests in reading, writing, and mathematics for the first
time next month. But Kaplan won't likely find its market niche there,
state education officials say.

If teachers are teaching to the state's standards, districts
shouldn't need a private company to provide another evaluation, said
Robert Bedford, the deputy commissioner for educational programs at the
Florida education department.

"The way we've set it up is that the teacher should know how the
students are doing as they go along," Mr. Bedford said. "Our school
year is the test preparation. There are no surprises."

Educators in both Florida and Texas question why schools or
districts would pay for simulated practice exams when both states will
make past copies of the tests available to schools.

John Katzman, the president of the Princeton Review, also wonders
why any student would spend money on a "knockoff" when he or she can
easily get access to last year's test. Although the Princeton Review is
publishing guidebooks to the New York regents' exams, Mr. Katzman said
his company does not plan to create more "aggressive" test-preparation
materials, such as the diagnostic tests, for state standardized
tests.

"If I were a student, I'd save myself a lot of money and get a copy
of the test itself," Mr. Katzman said.

But according to John McLaughlin, the editor of The Education
Industry Report, a Sioux Falls, S.D.-based newsletter that monitors
the education market, the national push for accountability and testing
will surely mean growth for test-preparation companies.

"Any measurable and demonstrable performance by kids is what society
and legislators are calling for right now," Mr. McLaughlin said. "It's
going to create opportunity for these businesses to step in. I don't
know yet what it's going to mean for the kids."

Johnny-Come-Latelies?

Meanwhile, Barron's Educational Services Inc. has done a steady
business selling its guides to the New York regents' exams for about 15
years, said Grace Freedson, the managing editor of the Hauppauge,
N.Y.-based company.

"All of these Johnny-come-latelies are getting involved in something
we've been doing for years and years," Ms. Freedson said.

Barron's also publishes guides to exams in Texas, where a statewide
cottage industry has grown up around test-preparation for the TAAS, or
the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, said Keith Cruse, the director
of student assessment at the state education department. High school
students must pass the TAAS to receive their diplomas.

At least half a dozen small companies offering test workbooks and
materials have cropped up in the past two years, Mr. Cruse said.

Some of those companies offer easy ordering through the Internet.
One Web site hawking Texas' math-assessment study guides for $19.95
features a sorcerer facing down a fearsome red dragon. The cyberspace
ad reads: "Are you ready to conquer math?"

The companies may be selling the materials, but they are not helping
Texas students, Mr. Cruse charged. "I've had my staff look at a couple
of them because of complaints. They weren't matched up to the Texas
objectives."

But the states themselves create a market for the test-preparation
companies when they make individual students accountable for their
scores, Mr. Madaus said. Any parents with means would be foolish not to
do everything possible to ensure that their children receive a diploma,
he added. "This was bound to happen as the stakes got higher."

The Kaplan Web site offers
visitors information on test preparation courses, the SCORE program for K-12 students, and
even advice on how to manage stress on the day of
the test. It also answers questions about many of the different tests
and their procedures, such as the Computer Adaptive Test or CAT.

Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc.
offers an explanation of a number of their test related services from
their Web site, including a description of their Sylvan Prometric division, which
administers computer-based testing servicesand has established a
contract with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for the worldwide
delivery of all computerized ETS tests.

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